NYC Officials Want High-Sodium Warning On Menus

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New York City could become the first city in the United States to require a warning label on high-sodium menu items at chain restaurants, health officials said.


The city’s Health Department proposed last month that all chain restaurants add a symbol resembling a salt shaker on menus next to food products that contain more than the recommended daily limit of 2,300 milligrams of sodium, equal to about 1 teaspoon of salt.
Sodium increases the risk of high blood pressure, which can lead to heart attack and stroke. Studies have found that the vast majority of dietary salt comes from processed and restaurant foods. But average sodium consumption is about 3,400 milligrams of sodium each day. Only about one in 10 Americans meets the 1 teaspoon guideline.
“This doesn’t change the food. It enables people to identify single items that have a level of salt that is extremely high,” said Dr. Mary Travis Bassett, commissioner of the New York City Department of Health and Mental Hygiene. “So that they can modify their menu selections accordingly.”
The proposal was introduced at the city’s board of health meeting. If the board votes to consider the rule, it will move to a public comment phase before a final vote in September. The department hopes the sodium warnings will appear on menus by December.
The salt-reduction campaign is part of Mayor Bill de Blasio’s goal to reduce premature mortality by 25 percent by 2040, health officials said.
Michael Jacobson, executive director for the Center for Science in the Public Interest, a Washington-based advocacy group, called it “an extremely important proposal.”
“High sodium levels are probably the biggest health problem related to our food supply,” Jacobson said. “New York City is showing true leadership in doing what it can do to lower sodium levels in restaurants by highlighting to consumers the dishes that are the most outlandishly high in sodium.”
Still, he called it a conservative approach, given that items would only get special labels if they have a full day’s worth of sodium. A meal with even half that amount would still have too much salt, he said.
The head of the Salt Institute, a trade association for salt producers, called the proposal “misguided” and based on old information.
“The symbol is based on faulty, incorrect government targets” that have been discredited by research over the last decade,” said the group’s president, Lori Roman. “They’re too low and if followed, could actually harm people.”
“Federal law already mandates that restaurants provide sodium content to consumers on request, and this proposal will add to the ‘mountain of red tape’ New York restaurants already must contend with,” said Melissa Fleischut, president and CEO of the New York State Restaurant Association.
“With separate labeling laws currently in the legislative houses and on the books at the state, federal and local levels, the composition of menus may soon have more warning labels than food products,” Fleischut said.
Last year, a large international study questioned the conventional wisdom that most people should cut back on salt, suggesting that the amount most folks consume is OK for heart health. The study followed 100,000 people in 17 countries and found that very high levels of salt were a problem, especially for people with high blood pressure, but too little salt also can do harm. Other scientists fault the study and say most people still consume way too much.
Bread and rolls are the No. 1 source of salt in the American diet. They represent 7 percent of the salt that the average American consumes in a day, according to a 2012 study by the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration has been pressing the food industry to voluntarily reduce sodium content and is working on new sodium guidelines.
Salt reduction has been the focus of public health campaigns. For years, New York City and other groups have been trying to persuade food manufacturers and chain restaurants to reduce salt content by more than 50 percent over the next decade. The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and other federal agencies have had sodium-reduction talks with food companies.
New York City made a series of groundbreaking healthy-eating moves during Bloomberg’s tenure: banning trans fats from restaurant meals, forcing chain eateries to post calorie counts on menus and trying, unsuccessfully, to limit the size of some sugary drinks.

  • Atosa USA
  • RAK Porcelain
  • Day & Nite
  • DAVO Sales Tax
  • T&S Brass Eversteel Pre-Rinse Units
  • RATIONAL USA
  • AyrKing Mixstir
  • Imperial Dade
  • McKee Foodservice
  • Simplot Frozen Avocado
  • Inline Plastics Safe-T-Chef
  • BelGioioso Burrata
  • Texas Pete
  • Red Gold Sacramento